Stock Talk for Everyone

Instead of spending hours scanning business pages and investment websites for stock tips and company deets, it would be a lot easier—and more fun—if you could follow a few great minds on a financial version of Twitter.

Now you can: StockTwits puts you smack in the middle of experienced investors who swap up-to-the-minute market analysis, opinion and news into a mere 140 characters.

If you’re a fairly savvy investor, StockTwits is a great way to dig deeper into companies you’ve got in your portfolio—or plan to buy.

If you’re new to the game, it’s a great way to get the hang of all that marketspeak.

Hint: For newbies, enter the ticker symbol of a company you find interesting—Whole Foods ($WFMI), Best Buy ($BBY), Target ($TGT)—and click through the StockTwits stream to see what’s going on. (Who knew Borders Books ($BGP) was on death’s door? We do now!)

Yes, the community is mainly guys, but so is Wall Street—and there are plenty of stand-out women to follow: